SCHLEIDEN, shlī'dĕn, Matthias Jakob,
German botanist: b. Hamburg, 5 April 1804; d.
Frankfort, 23 June 1881. He was educated for
the law in Heidelberg, but in 1833 took up the
study of botany. He occupied the chair of
botany at Jena from 1839 to 1863, when he was
called to the Botanical Gardens at Dorpt. He
was one of the first botanists to study plant
tissue, and his name is associated with that
of Nageli, the Swiss botanist, in the early
development of the cell theory. His works
include ‘Grundzüge der wissenschaftlichen
Botanik’ (1842-43; trans, into English as
‘Principles of Scientific Botany,’ 1849); ‘Die Pflanze
und ihr Leben’ (1848); ‘Baum und Wald’
(1870); ‘Die Rose’ (1873).